Technology has fundamentally changed all aspects of life – from business and healthcare to communication and commerce. To illustrate how digital disruption and tech innovation have revolutionised the world of retail, consider the following statistic: in 1993, the typical South Africa consumer shop at an average of 2.1 different stores.
Ten years later, that figure rose to 4.9 shops. Today, the rise of e-commerce and the resultant convenience of being able to make purchases from the comfort of your own home means that the average person is actually pretty spoiled for choice. While this makes shopping an absolute breeze for consumers, it also gives retailers new opportunities to future-proof their businesses; using advanced analytics for retail to up their game and provide a more positive customer experience.
According to a recent study from Deloitte, here are a few ways to demystify analytics and ensure your efforts yield real results:
#1 Uncover relationships that may have gone undetected: Purchase data can reveal some valuable insights about a customer’s preferences. But advanced analytics for retail markets empowers retail business owners to make connections between different purchase habits and identify relationships that may not have been obvious. In 2014, Marks and Spencer, a successful British retailer, used predictive analytics to strategically stock their shelves during the Festive season, ensuring they had an influx of items that are typically in high demand over the Christmas period.
#2 Change your approach to customer segmentation: Traditionally customer segmentation is based on things like demographics. This can be a valuable approach but refining immense volumes of data using advanced analytics for retail makes it simpler to identify things like customer sentiment, lifestyle preferences and social values. The leap forward provides retailers and brands with new ways to connect with customers across the purchasing lifecycle.
#3 Enabling risk-sensing capabilities: With real-time reporting and monitoring, businesses can mitigate risks before they even become a problem. Being able to sense risk allows a retailer to move more quickly, make decisions and investments more strategically and effectively allocate resources whenever and wherever they are needed.
Ultimately, it all comes down to effectively using the wealth of data you have at your disposal to make informed decisions and really speak to your customers in a personalised and targeted way. Want to turn your retail business into digital innovation leader? Our monthly business, telecoms and innovation newsletter is the resource you need. Subscribe below.
Leave a Comment